London Clockwise from far left: Elaine Paige in Dick Whittington; with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice and Gary Bond at an Evita party
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As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get set to tie the knot this spring, Neil Simpson falls head over heels for London’s greatest love stories
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edding bells will ring out over Windsor this May, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say their vows in the beautiful St George’s Chapel. Here, we celebrate their romance as well as Valentine’s Day with a look at some of London’s most heart-stirring romances and where they happened.
Queen Victoria & Prince Albert
Gilbert & George
Spitalfields Market, Shoreditch Originally from Plymouth in Devon, George Passmore met his Italian husband Gilbert Prousch in 1967, when the pair began studying sculpture at Saint Martin’s School of Art (now part of the Central Saint Martins arts school). They have been inseparable ever since, as an artistic partnership that believes in ‘art for all’. Together, Gilbert & George won the Turner Prize in 1986, counted David Bowie as a customer and also enjoyed Tate Modern’s largest-ever artist retrospective exhibition in 2007. The couple married in 2008 and have lived in a restored 18th-century house on Fournier Street in Spitalfields since 1968. Embark on a shopping trip to Spitalfields Market and you might just spot them. www.gilbertandgeorge.co.uk
VICTORIA AND ALBERT © ISTOCK; GILBERT & GEORGE © REX SHUTTERSTOCK
Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington Arguably the biggest London love story of them all, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s epic bond is in evidence on a grand scale in the city. The V&A was just one of the museums on South Kensington’s Exhibition Road that was built by Albert (the area’s 19th-century nickname was ‘Albertopolis’). The Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and more were funded using the huge profits generated by his Great Exhibition of 1851. The money intended for building the Royal Albert Hall was diverted by Victoria following Albert’s death in 1861, so that she could use it to build the Albert Memorial just across the road. Following Albert’s death, Victoria famously wore nothing but black for the rest of her life. www.vam.ac.uk
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